Accidental Encounters
by ChibiChiii
Summary: Merlin travels back in time with the Doctor to see Arthur one last time. When the younger Arthur however slips on board of the Tardis he is shown his own future and has no intention to return to his own time-line.
1. Wishful Thinking

**Wishful thinking**

_Chapter 1_

Catagory: Multi (Crossover)

Characters/Pairings: Rose/10th Doctor, Merlin/Arthur, Guinevere/Arthur  
Rating/Warnings: K+, Light slash between Merlin and Arthur.  
Summary: Merlin travels back in time with the Doctor to see Arthur one last time. When the younger Arthur however slips on board of the tardis he is shown his own future and has no intention to return to his own timeline.

Link:

Merlin stared over the glassy surface of the water where he had send off Arthur only a couple of days ago. It still hurt, so very badly...He felt a tear drip down over his cheek but he could not be bothered to wipe it off. Around him there was total silence, not even the wind was breezing or the birds singing. It had seemed with Arthur's death, the kingdom had died with him. Merlin felt as if he had failed his destiny.

Even Though Kilgharrah had assured him he had not, he had supported Arthur till the end of the battle. As the prophecy had foretold, he had made Arthur the king he was when he died. Assuming it was his task to save Arthur's life, had been Merlin's only mistake.

Sadly he sat down next to the water, waiting. Another day passing by as Merlin ate some of the fruits around the lake to sustain his own health. And drank some water from the lake. He didn't leave the shore for over 5 days already now. Never returned to Camelot because it was too painful.

The memories of the man he had grown to love were too fresh, facing Gwen who had probably figured out by now Arthur would not return. Or explaining to Gaius that he had not been able to save him...he just couldn't do it.

Merlin's depressing thoughts were abruptly disturbed by a noise he had never heard before. A loud alarming sound, that seemed not to come from anything he knew.

He quickly got up walking into the forest from where the sound had been. Everything had been quiet again by now though. It took Merlin a moment before he arrived at a strange small blue box. Which had markings on it Merlin could not read. They were nothing like the markings in Gaius his books.

This thing however appeared out of nowhere, it had to be some sort of magical box.  
"Hello?" Merlin carefully called readying himself to defend himself with his own magic when necessary.

"Ow hello!" A friendly face answered sticking his head out of the box, looking around. "Brilliant! Just Brilliant!" The man called stepping out of the box. A girl followed him, she was wearing clothing like a man, trousers and some sort of shirt. Merlin looked at them as if he had just seen the weirdest thing in his entire life...

"Who are you? Or what are you? How did you get here?" He stammered as he backed up a little.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose." The man answered as he was looking around to find out where exactly they had landed when he spotted the castle further down.

"Oh my, is that Camelot?" he answered excited.

Merlin nodded, a sadness appearing back into his eyes. "Yes it is"

"Camelot, with King Arthur? You kidding me right?" Rose expressed herself as she walked up to the doctor.

"You know of Arthur?" Merlin asked carefully.

"Of Course, who doesn't he's a legend. Can we go meet him doctor?" Rose answered

The Doctor nodded proudly "I don't see why not"

"You can't..." Merlin sadly responded

"Why not?" Rose reacted sounding a bit disappointed.

"Because Arthur died...a couple of days ago. In battle"

"Oh that is just..." The doctor said sounding annoyed that he had misjudged the time travel again.

"And who are you then if you don't mind my asking?" Rose carefully addressed Merlin.

"I'm Merlin" he answered.

Rose looked stunned at him, raising her eyebrow a little "You?! Are Merlin?!"

"Yes" Merlin answered not entirely understanding her disbelief in her voice.

"But you don't have a long white beard or a staff or a pointy hat"

Merlin couldn't help himself but laugh at the picture she was describing. "A pointy hat? Nobody wears those."

Rose laughed a bit as well "But if Arthur died, who rules Camelot then?" she asked a bit curious.

Merlin stopped laughing immediately "Guinevere, his wife..."

The doctor walked up to them "But what about the pendragon bloodline? Is Guinevere expecting a child? How did Arthur die exactly?"

Merlin shook his head "Not that I know off, there has been no official announcement at least. But I have not returned to the castle yet." Merlin paused for a short moment "I failed to protect him, Mordred killed him"

"What?!" The doctor expressed with a disgusted look on his face "That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Rose looked at the Doctor curiously, it was indeed not how she remembered the legend either.

Merlin bent his head down sadly and ashamed...

"Oh come on! Cheer up mate...the Doctor will fix things. Won't you doctor? We could just travel back in time and save him restore things to how they were supposed to be."

The doctor shook his head "No we can't, we can't cross his timeline. It would create a huge paradox...Neither can we just change how things have gone. That is not our place, we may merely observe the timeline. Not alter it"

"But you've changed time so often already?" Rose asked not quite understanding.

"I may only interfere if extraterritorial, is meddling with Earthly events. But here, it's a normal cause and effect, choice and consequence that have altered the timeline."

Merlin sighed deeply, feeling even more burdened now. It felt like he failed even worse than he already thought he did. "Time travel?" he asked hesitant not understanding anything of what the doctor had said about timelines and extraterritorial.

"The Tardis is a time machine, it let's us travel in time. We're from the future you see" Rose explained to Merlin. Who still stared at her in disbelief. "So it's magic?" he answered a bit hesitant.

"You could say that yea" the Doctor answered.

"I wish my magic was powerful enough to see Arthur again" Merlin said sighing sadly.

Rose looked at the Doctor when she saw the sad and utterly defeated Merlin. She felt sorry for him. "Doctor...isn't there anything we can do for him?"

"I'm sorry, if I take him back and he meets himself...things will become a lot worse" The doctor answered with a serious face.

"So I can't meet myself? But I could meet Arthur?" Merlin said a bit hopeful

"Theoretically...yes but you both live in Camelot there's no way you could avoid meeting yourself if you go look for Arthur" The doctor answered.

"I haven't lived in Camelot forever, I used to live in Ealdor before my mother send me to Camelot. So what if we travel to before I went to Camelot?"

The doctor raised his eyebrow and Rose started smiling radiantly... "That should work" Rose answered excited about the idea.


	2. Familiar Face

The Doctor returned into the Tardis as Rose sat with Merlin just outside.

"Who is he? And how come he can travel in time?" Merlin hesitantly asked as he looked at Rose.

"Oh he's brilliant, calls himself the Doctor. And the Tardis, the blue box is a space ship. It can take us anywhere and anytime we want to go." Rose smiled dreamily.

"Doctor? What's a doctor?" Merlin looked up curiously

"Ehm...it's like, a person that heals other people" Rose tried to explain

"Like a physician?" Merlin replied

"Yea something like that" Rose smiled once more "How's it going in there Doctor? Any idea when we'll be leaving?" she shouted back at the box.

The Doctor stuck his head out of the box "Well...it seems she is having some difficulties, so might take a while" he answered before pulling his head back inside and began pushing more buttons and handles.

Merlin laughed a bit "He's rather amusing. So you think I will really be able to see Arthur again?"

Rose nodded "Sure of it, the Doctor will take care of it. He can do anything." she spoke with a certain pride in her words.

Merlin smiled and realized the woman was full of praise about the strange man with the blue box. So he couldn't be that bad or an evil sorcerer if she cared such a great deal for this person.

"Perhaps you could show me around? Can you show me the castle?" Rose asked curiously

Merlin shook his head "I can't go there...I failed to protect Arthur. Now everyone is sad because of me"

Rose gently tapped on Merlin's shoulder "You did all you could. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"But it was my destiny, it was what I was born with magic for. And I failed, I let him down...and I..." Merlin spoke softly

Rose looked at him "I'm sure you tried your best, sometimes we can't save them all"

"I didn't even get to tell him, that I love him" Merlin muttered sadly

Rose smiled "I can see he meant a great deal to you, he must have been a wonderful person"

"He was a prat..." Merlin moped staring down sadly "But he was my friend"

Rose nodded understanding and stayed silent for a moment then.

Finally the doctor's face turned up outside the box once more "She's all set!" He cheered proudly.

Rose smiled "Alright! Let's go meet the famous Arthur" as she climbed back on her feet and walked to the Tardis.

Merlin got up hesitantly "So...I am really going to see him again?" he stammered

The doctor smiled "Well that's what ya want isn't it? Let's go then! Haven't got all day...oh wait we do, nevertheless hurry up"

Merlin nodded and stepped into the Tardis, his eyes widened in surprise.

Rose and the Doctor both stood leaning against the railing. "Go on say it" the Doctor laughed.

"It´s...it's...it's magic" Merlin stammered.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow "Well that's a new one"

Rose laughed a bit "Do you call everything you can't explain magic?"

Merlin shrugged "I suppose...don't you?"

Rose shook her head "No where we come from we have many names for the unexplained"

"Well hold on to your horses we're taking off" The doctor smiled as he pulled the lever setting the Tardis in motion.

"Which horses?" Merlin asked surprised looking around quickly grabbing the rails when the floor beneath him started to move.

"Metaphorical horses" the doctor called over the loud sound the Tardis was making

"Meta what?" Merlin shouted back not understanding a word

"Oh nevermind, we're here...Camelot!" The doctor called excited.

The Tardis had landed on a hill just outside Camelot. Which was rather unfortunate cause it pulled a lot of attention. Several villagers surrounded the strange box curious as to what it was that had just appeared.

The doctor was first to step out "Well hello there!" he cheerfully spoke but made the villagers shreek back "Sorcerer!" One of the villagers shouted in distress.

"Magic, Sorcery!" Another one started calling.

"I might have forgot to mention, magic is outlawed in Camelot..." Merlin muttered as he was reminded to how it had been when he first entered Camelot. He would never forget that day, that he witnessed a man being killed for having used the arts of the druids. Not even real magic, but nevertheless forbidden.

"Oh nooo, no, no, no. This old thing isn't magic" the doctor explained placing a hand on the box. "It's a time machine"

The villagers looked at the Doctor as if he were a madman, then looked confused at each other and continued their shouting of sorcery.

As it drew the attention of several guard coming to check it out the Doctor quickly slipped back inside the Tardis "Okay...so small complication, we might have to move to a less transparent location" He added pulling some levers and pressing some buttons. Once more the Tardis made it; s loud alarming sound for several seconds before everything went quiet. The Doctor had landed it in the forrest near the lake. Apart from birds singing, and the rustling of the wind trough the leaves it was quiet.

Merlin stepped outside realizing it was the exact same spot that he had went inside. "We went back? But you said I could see Arthur!" he spoke in slight panic.

"We're just at the same spot, not at the same moment" The Doctor spoke kindly. "You'll see Arthur, we'll just have to be extremely careful you do not run into yourself. And remember, no spoilers!"

"Spoilers?" Merlin asked confused

"Means you can't tell people their future, or do anything to change it" Rose explained. "So let's go then, I wanna see the castle"

"Oh no you don't missy, not dressed like that you don't. Unless you want to be thrown into the dungeons for being a witch" The doctor spoke firmly

"Oh right...A witch? With jeans? Now that's hilarious" Rose laughed as she headed back into the Tardis to find something appropriate to wear.

The doctor followed her to help her find her way around in the huge space ship leaving Merlin in front of the tardis. He stared at the castle just ahead outside of the forrest. There Arthur would be, still alive...

He began walking towards the castle, he considered where Arthur would be at that moment. Maybe he was in court with Uther. Suddenly he realized Uther would be still alive as well. As was Morgana. As he walked trough the gates he looked around. The guards were dragging away a man. He looked at him and reconized him. It was the man that was executed when he was first arriving at Camelot.

Had the Doctor made a mistake, was this the day he would normally arrive in Camelot. Frantically he looked around to see if he could spot himself, when he saw king Uther appear on the balcony. "This man is found guilty of using magic, against the laws of Camelot he will therefor be executed at sunset tomorrow morning!" Uther spoke firm and noble.

Merlin looked at the castle and saw Morgana standing behind the window, she was still as beautiful as he remembered her. How bitter her heart had grown in those last years. Still he blamed himself for what she had become. Seeing her like this made him wish he had done differently, perhaps if he had confided in her...if he had not poisoned her, maybe things would have gone differently.

He remembered the doctor's words, the future is only as much as cause and effect. This future was created by choices that were made. 'His choices, the wrong choices.' Merlin thought to himself.

"Oh come on, put some back into it! Are you a man or a girl!" He suddenly heard a familiar voice taunt. Merlin turned around abruptly. His eyes watered slightly as he looked at the blond man that was teasing his servant. Throwing knives at a wooden shield he was barely able to carry.

Merlin frowned slightly, but yet also had to smile he had forgotten what a prat Arthur had been when they first met. Suddenly the poor tumbling servant crashed in front of Merlin's feet and before Merlin realized what he was doing he stopped the rolling shield. "That's enough" he spoke firmly.

Arthur looked at him with slight disbelief but also a hint of amusement "Say what? Do I know you?" he asked as he walked over to Merlin.

"Well you've had you're fun my friend. I'm Merlin" he stook out his hand to the prince.

Arthur snorted a bit and laughed "So I don't know you?"

Merlin had completely forgotten that this Arthur wasn't his friend, he hadn't met him yet...'shit' he thought to himself "No, you don't" he hesitantly added and pulled his hand back.

"Yet you called me friend?" Arthur said with a smug grin on his face

"Yea...that was my bad, I could never had a friend that would be such an ass"

"Nor I one to be so stupid" Arthur added insulted "So go on, what are you going to do about it?"

Merlin laughed a bit he remembered this part, he had tried to hit Arthur not knowing he was the prince. But this time he knew, and he wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"My apologies, sire" Merlin spoke quickly and bend his head a bit.

"That's better, I'll have you know I've been trained to kill since birth. I could tear you apart with one blow" Arthur bragged.

"Really? How long have you been training to be a prat?" Merlin snapped back without thinking.

'Darn' he thought to himself as he realized this was all too familiar.

"What was that? You can't speak to me like that" Arthur spoke slightly insulted

"I stand corrected, how long have you been training to be a prat, My lord?"  
As Merlin made a sarcastic bow and smirked deviantly at Arthur.

A grin plastered on Arthur's face "I'll have you pay for that, come on big man, let's see what you got" Arthur taunted throwing a mace at Merlin which he barely dodged.

One would think with 8 years of training of to deal with this man, Merlin would have seen it coming. Yet he was struck by surprise when the mace came swinging his way and tumbled backwards. "Go on, pick it up" Arthur laughed swinging his mace around efficiently and with ease.

Merlin scrambled back onto his feet, grabbing the mace as he backed away. He was tempted to just use his magic, but this Arthur did not know he was a sorcerer yet. And he would easily have him executed for using magic no matter how close friends they were in the future.

Merlin dodged and jumped back "Sire, maybe we better shouldn't" he tried to talk to Arthur only to dive under another mace swinging in his direction. What was the prat doing, trying to kill him? Merlin thought as he grew angry. In a flash when Arthur wasn't looking he made a wooden box move, making Arthur step into it. It colided against his legs and made Arthur pull a funny face from the pain. Merlin couldn't help but laugh quietly.

But Arthur wasn't ready to give up just yet, he swung the mace once more at Merlin. As Merlin used his magic quickly to make the Mace stay stuck in a bunch of rattling chains. He grinned at Arthur who looked back in surprise. After he entangled the mace he went after Merlin who was scrambling trough a cart filled with melons. As Arthur swung the mace at Merlin several Melon's were squashed in the process. "Such a waste of good food" Merlin said shaking his head teasingly.

"Then why don't you stop running like a coward and face me" Arthur grumbled "Me a humble peasant...facing the great mighty prince Arthur? I'd have to be insane" Merlin mocked him.

Arthur grinned "You can't run forever, Merlin" he taunted him back.

"No you're right, maybe I can't...but I can try" Merlin laughed and slipped between some more crates. He used his magic to make a wire span between the carts when Arthur followed him. Making Arthur tumble over the wire and fall to the floor. "Give up already?" Merlin smiled as he stood over Arthur.

Suddenly a voice called out "Merlin?! Merlin where are you?" Rose and the doctor called as they walked over the court yard.

While Merlin was distracted Arthur used it to his advantage to work Merlin to the floor making him fall into a stack of hay. "Do you?" Arthur spoke deviously as he leaned over Merlin.

Merlin suddenly swallowed hard and nodded "I yield..." he mumbled

"Good" Arthur added laughing. Two guards grabbed Merlin's arms "No just let him go, he might be an idiot, but he's a brave idiot" Arthur ordered them to let Merlin go.

Just then the doctor and rose caught up "There you are!" Rose looked astonished at Arthur "Legend's didn't mention he was this bloody gorgeous" she smiled.

Arthur smiled and looked slightly puzzled at her "Legend?" he asked curiously

"Oh it's just a figure of speech...allegedly you're known in many kingdoms young prince" she curtsied.

Merlin smiled and watched Arthur silently. It felt so good to see him again, but this strange stirring he felt when Arthur was hovering over him like that was something new. Surely it was just excitement.

"Really I am?" Arthur asked surprised as he stretched out his arm "You must tell me all about it then my lady. What is your name?"

"Rose, I'm Rose" she blushed lightly as she took Arthur's arm. She looked back at the doctor making excited faces. 'I'm holding king Arthur's arm!' she squealed inside.

"Are they you're friends?" Arthur asked curiously as his eyes averted back to Merlin. Something peculiar about the young man...he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Yes, this is Merlin. And my friend the Doctor" Rose smiled.

"Pleased to meet you" the Doctor smiled as he turned back to Merlin "There's been a slight error in the time vortex, which caused us to land only a day before you arrive at Camelot. Meaning we must be gone before the end of the day. Or we could create a paradox" he spoke softly to Merlin.

Merlin nodded "I noticed" he added as he followed Rose and Arthur into the castle. "But for now, we can just relax right?" he asked hopefully.

The doctor noticed the longing eyes Merlin watched Arthur with, he smiled. He always suspected there had been more between the two men than just what the books described of them. And seeing how Merlin looked at Arthur, there must have been. He walked along with the others inside the castle.

Arthur took his guests to the dining room and had the servants prepare a dinner. For a moment Merlin wanted to take up the task, but he was reminded by a boy named George that he was not yet Arthur's servant. The boy had before been carrying the shield, and was now bowing to his prince rushing off to do his bidding. Merlin smiled, he wondered if he looked that eager to serve Arthur when he was appointed his servant.


End file.
